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William McGregor Paxton (1869-1941)

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William McGregor Paxton was an American painter and instructor who embraced the Boston School paradigm and was a co-founder of The Guild of Boston Artists.
He taught briefly while a student at Cowles Art School, where he met his wife Elizabeth Okie Paxton, and at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston.
Paxton is known for his portraits, including those of two presidents - Grover Cleveland and Calvin Coolidge - and interior scenes with women, including his wife.
His works are in many museums in the United States.



Paxton was born on June 22, 1869 in Baltimore to James and Rose Doherty Paxton.
William's father moved the Paxton family and established a catering business in Newton Corner, Massachusetts in the mid-1870s.

Paxton attended Cowles Art School on a scholarship he attained at the age of 18.
He studied with Dennis Miller Bunker and Cowles and then went to Paris to study under Jean-Léon Gérôme at École des Beaux-Arts.
Maryhill Museum of Art said he also studied at Académie Julian in Paris.

He returned to Cowles and studied with Joseph DeCamp, who also taught Elizabeth Vaughan Okie.
She became Paxton's student and then his wife.
Paxton and several other Bostonian artists were inspired by Johannes Vermeer.


The Metropolitan Museum of Art says of Paxton's Tea Leaves (1909) in their collection:
  • "In a windowless parlor permeated by soft light, a dreamy atmosphere, and the sounds of silence, two elegant women pass the time by doing very little or nothing at all. Paxton hints at a narrative, but he asks that the viewer invent it, recapitulating the ambiguity of Vermeer's paintings, which he admired".
Paxton was made a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1928.

Paxton died of a heart attack when he was painting his wife in their Montvale Road living room. He was 72 years of age.
An exhibition was held in his memory at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston from November 19 through December 14, 1941.
His papers - including sketches, correspondence, and photographs - are held at the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. | © Wikipedia























William McGregor Paxton (Baltimora, 22 giugno 1869 - Newton, 1941) è stato un pittore Statunitense.
Fu un pittore dell'impressionismo americano.
Nato a Baltimora, si trasferì a Boston negli anni '70 insieme alla famiglia, dove vinse una borsa di studio per la Cowles Art School: durante il periodo della sua istruzione, dopo aver incontrato Dennis Bunker in patria, studiò alla École des Beaux-Arts con Jean-Léon Gérôme a Parigi e con Joseph DeCamp a Cowles, vicino a Boston, presso cui conobbe anche la sua futura moglie Elizabeth Okie.
Maryhill Museum of Art ha dichiarato che Paxton aveva studiato anche all'Académie Julian di Parigi.


Paxton e molti altri artisti di Boston sono stati ispirati da Johannes Vermeer.
Il Metropolitan Museum of Art racconta delle "Foglie di tè" di Paxton (1909) nella sua collezione:
  • "In un salotto senza finestre permeato da luce soffusa, un'atmosfera da sogno e suoni di silenzio, due donne eleganti passano il tempo facendo pochissimo o niente. Paxton suggerisce una narrazione, ma chiede allo spettatore di inventarla, ricapitolando l'ambiguità dei dipinti di Vermeer, che ha ammirato".
Paxton, noto per la sua ritrattistica, insegnò alla Museum School dal 1906-1913, insieme a Edmund Tarbell e Frank Benson, con cui costituì la cosiddetta scuola di Boston.
Morì d'attacco cardiaco durante la realizzazione di un ritratto di sua moglie.
Il suo dipinto "Foglie di tè" (1909) è conservato presso il Metropolitan Museum of Art di New York.